An Iranian girl accused of operating a world weapons pipeline for the regime had been residing within the excessive life in California for a decade – whereas touring the world doing unlawful arms offers for Tehran.
Shamim Mafi, 44, is accused of orchestrating a sanctions-busting arms operation from her humble Woodland Hills city home in Los Angeles County, brokering drones, bombs and large weapons offers on the behest of Iran’s regime.
Federal investigators say Mafi maintained deep, long-standing ties to Iran’s intelligence and political elite.
Her arrest follows a sequence of visa cancellations of members of the family linked to the regime who had been residing lavish lives in California, which has the largest expatriate Iranian group on this planet.
ICE brokers arrested Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, the niece of slain Iranian common Qasem Soleimani, in Tujunga, north of Los Angeles, revoking her inexperienced card.
Her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, was additionally detained in the identical sweep.
In the meantime, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, 43, the son of a senior Iranian official ”Screaming Mary” was taken into custody along with his spouse and son after his authorized standing was stripped.
Iranian educational and media commentator Yousof Azizi was additionally detained by immigration authorities over alleged hyperlinks to a Basij-affiliated group tied to the regime’s safety equipment.
Mafi, who held a US inexperienced card and moved to California in 2016, allegedly made about 60 communications with an Iranian intelligence officer between 2022 and 2025.
She even advised brokers she was ”extra helpful” to Iran’s intelligence companies overseas than within the US, a comment officers say displays her position in facilitating weapons offers throughout a number of international locations.
Mafi, who was as soon as married to a Iranian spy within the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence, remained in shut contact with one other operative who allegedly helped information her actions and even backed a US-based enterprise enterprise to ship medical provides to African international locations through Oman.
Mafi was ready to make use of her intelligence connections to re-acquire a property she inherited from her father in 2020 that had been seized by the regime.
The identical officer than suggested her to ascertain a enterprise within the U.S. to assist Iranian-Individuals repossess properties that had been seized by the regime in alternate for receiving 60% of the property’s worth.
In 2024, she was appointed to a job within the presidential marketing campaign of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a strong Tehran insider and former mayor, displaying he alleged affect inside Iran’s ruling circle.
Authorities say that insider standing helped her dealer a sweeping sequence of illicit arms offers, together with a €60 million ($70.5 million) contract to produce Iranian-made Mohajer-6 armed drones to Sudan, which has been combating a bloody civil struggle since 2023.
The package deal included drones, guided bombs, management methods and coaching, with funds funneled by way of international exchanges and money transfers designed to dodge U.S. sanctions.
Investigators say Mafi took elaborate steps to keep away from detection, instructing associates to delete messages, keep away from discussing offers over the cellphone and transfer cash in money.
She allegedly ordered transactions to be cut up into smaller quantities and routed by way of casual exchanges in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to evade scrutiny.
In some instances, she warned companions in regards to the “sensitivity” of the offers and advised them to not focus on key particulars overtly.
Prosecutors say she operated by way of an Oman-based entrance firm and used networks throughout the Center East to maneuver giant sums of money, together with shipments saved in crates full of US {dollars}.
In a February 2025 WhatsApp alternate, she despatched a video of a crate filled with $100 payments, and later claimed to have acquired $2 million from a Sudan-linked contact.
The drone deal was only one a part of a a lot bigger operation.
Mafi can also be accused of brokering offers involving a whole lot of aerial bombs, tens of 1000’s of bomb fuses linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and large shipments of small arms.
In a single proposal, she provided to produce 70,000 AK-47 rifles, 1,000 rocket launchers, 500,000 rockets and thousands and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
One other deal concerned as much as 240 million rounds price greater than $100 million.
Investigators say she continuously traveled between Los Angeles and hubs together with Iran, Turkey and Oman to satisfy contacts tied to the offers.
Federal brokers arrested her at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport as she ready to depart the nation for Istanbul, Turkey, the place she continuously travelled.
Mafi had been interviewed by each the FBI and Customs and Border Patrol, however was by no means discovered with incriminating proof of her alleged arms dealing.
She is charged with conspiracy to violate US sanctions legal guidelines, in what prosecutors say exposes a complicated international weapons community working out of a quiet LA suburb with direct hyperlinks to Iran’s intelligence and political machine.
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